Innehållsförteckning för May 2018 från Yachting

I’ve been reviewing Sea Rays since company founder Connie Ray was still driving the train, and I’ve often used adjectives like well-built and family-friendly to describe new models. But when I stepped aboard the Sea Ray Fly 520, a different word came to mind: elegant. ¶ The Fly 520 is designed and built to standards not expected in a 50-something-footer. The salon, for example, isn’t called a salon; Sea Ray calls it the sunroom, which I think is a more accurate term. Windows stretch from seat backs to overhead, there are triple sliding doors aft, and the windscreen forward uses the tallest (6-foot-1-inch) piece of glass ever installed on a Sea Ray. The effect is airy and relaxing, connecting the indoor space to outdoor areas. ¶ Materials also lend an…

YOU WOULD BE HARD-PRESSED TO FIND A MORE “AUSTRALIAN” yacht than the Riviera 525 SUV. She’s not a flashy size, but she can definitely hold a party. She’s not particularly specialized in the builder’s SUV line, which also includes a 445, a 575 and an upcoming 395, but like many Aussies I’ve met, she is capable of more than meets the eye. Indeed, this girl from Down Under might just turn your perspective upside down. ¶ The 525 SUV debuted at the Riviera Festival of Boating in 2017. That affair used to be held in head-to-head competition with the nearby Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show, one of Australia’s premier shows, a fact that hints at Riviera’s rather, shall we say, robust company ethos. The team at Riviera relishes a challenge,…

LIKE MANY BOATERS, I grew up in a conservative home that emphasized “yacht-club manners.” Swearing earned mouthfuls of soap … unless my dad issued the vulgarity, at which point the (perceived) lesson swung from observing “YCMs” to memorizing a forbidden-but-luring lexicon. And while my dad typically eschews swearing, nothing triggered count-on-it profanity lessons faster than a gummed-up “distance, speed, temperature” paddle-wheel transducer. ¶ This was decades ago, before transducers went digital; while undercarriage growth was a common culprit, non-transducer-based conundrums often required time-consuming downstream diagnostics. I happily used these situations to expand my forbidden vocabulary, but an analytic tool would have saved me quite a few bars of Dove soap. And fortunately for today’s children of yachtsmen, this instrument now exists. ¶ Today’s sonar transducers are anglers’ best friends until…

THE FUTURE OF yachting was on my mind the other day as I watched SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket blast into space with a Tesla on top. That same morning, I received an email from my pal and yacht designer Dave Martin. During the past 50 years, Martin has designed more yachts than anyone I know, and he’s still noodling new ones. His mind was on the future too. These are exciting times. Attached to his note were preliminary drawings and specifications for his latest vision: the 30-foot Flying Fisherman. The idea for the design occurred to him at a marina. “Walking the docks, I’m seeing more and more big center consoles with three or four huge outboards strapped to their sterns,” he said. “I wondered why anybody would spend more…

Yachting’s social media followers have spent more than 30 hours watching our video tour of the Sanlorenzo SX88. Stop by Yachting’s Facebook page at facebook.com/yachtingmagazine and look in our videos album to find out why. CORRECTIONS In our 2018 marine electronics annual, the prices of three products were listed incorrectly. The correct prices are: Mazu SkyMate M2500, $995; Simrad RS20 VHF radio, $279; and JL Audio MediaMaster MM100s-BE, $549. We regret the errors. READER FEEDBACK Looking for photos and yacht news? Get social with Yachting: Visit facebook.com/yachtingmagazine By Email: letters@yachtingmagazine.com By Mail: 460 N. Orlando Ave., Suite 200, Winter Park, FL32789 On the Web: yachtingmagazine.com…

The engraved rolex timepieces on Peter Duncan’s and Erika Reineke’s wrists follow an accomplished year in sailing. Among several notable victories that each had, the 2017 Rolex Yachtsman of the Year won the 161-boat Audi J/70 World Championship, while the Yachtswoman of the Year took home the gold in the Laser Radial at Enoshima Olympic Week. ¶ “I just felt so lucky to be there at the Olympic venue for the first time,” says Reineke, a Fort Lauderdale native. ¶ While pursuing her sailing dreams, Reineke earned her degree in environmental geosciences from Boston College. Now the US Sailing team member can focus on her sport full-time. Up next is the 2018 ISAF Sailing World Championships at Aarhus, Denmark, the first chance for sailors to qualify for the 2020 Olympic…

WHEN BOB JOHNSTONE, his wife, Mary, and son Peter launched MJM Yachts in 2002, the founders of the J/Boat sailing-yacht dynasty felt like they had entered the bizarro world. “I thought I’d be the last guy to own a powerboat company,” Johnstone says. “We decided to get into it because we’d owned a 29-foot Downeast-style boat, and it wasn’t designed for cruising. We used it a lot between racing on weekends but found that the head was small, the pilothouse was uncomfortable, and there wasn’t seating in the cockpit for guests.” ¶ Much as they had done with J/Boats, the Johnstones came up with a formula, this time for a new-style Downeaster. They compiled a list of their favorite boats and cherry-picked features. ¶ “The bow had to have a…

IT TAKES A VILLAGE, AND A WHOLE LOT OF PREP work, to make a 201-foot 17-year-old mega-yacht like new in 180 days. ¶ The idea was simple, sort of. Find a yacht that fit the owners’ preferences and cruise the Mediterranean for the summer while planning a refit that would include hull paint; a redesigned interior; a Lloyds-and Cayman Islands-approved paperless bridge system; virtual acres of teak being stripped, sanded and varnished; seemingly miles of stainless steel being removed and polished; new marble soles and carpeting; updated furniture; and, well, the list goes on for many nautical miles. ¶ Oh, and the 2000 build had to be in and out of the shipyard between November and March. ¶ “We spent quite a long time looking for [a yacht] that suited…

Topsail island, as islands go, is not a bad place to have boat trouble. The 26-mile-long barrier island is just off North Carolina’s coast with boat-rental companies and put-in ramps for the Intracoastal Waterway. Generally speaking, other boaters are around, and when things go wrong, the U.S. Coast Guard stations in the region can respond to a Mayday call pretty fast. ¶ Then again, “pretty fast” depends on just how quickly a boat is taking on water — and whether that boat has enough life jackets for everybody aboard. ¶ Five people who were stranded 8 miles off Topsail Island learned this lesson last July, when their boat took on water, capsized and landed them all in the drink. Only three of them were wearing life jackets; the other two…

IF YOU THINK YOU DON’T know the work of German car company Brabus, think again. It optimizes luxury cars, including those built by Mercedes-Benz. When Axopar, the boatbuilder in Finland known for aggressively styled center consoles and walkarounds, wanted to soup up its 36-foot Shadow 800, it chose Brabus to help. Axopar also added a carbon-fiber dashboard, titanium-finished hinges, and powerful, twin 400 hp Mercury Verado 400Rs that hang off the transom like trophies. • Whom It’s For: The Shadow 800 is for the owner who wants a 50-plus-knot tender with a seaworthy hull and super-sharp styling that’s reminiscent of supercars. • Picture This: You’re in a crowded harbor that’s buzzing with luxury tenders. Everyone’s head is on a swivel checking out the other guy’s ride — that is, everyone…

YACHT CHARTER in the Pacific Northwest often includes itineraries in scenic Alaska or British Columbia’s Desolation Sound, but it’s worth the effort to look a bit farther south, between Seattle and Vancouver off the Washington State border. There, you’ll find the San Juan Islands, a region that is much less-traveled by charter yachts but that is absolutely brimming with wideopen views and outdoor adventures. ¶ Yachts that charter in the San Juans are typically based there during at least part of the year, because tax laws make it unfavorable for out-of-region yachts to move into the market. The downside of that reality is limited supply — charter clients have to book early to get the best yachts — while the upside is having captains and crew with virtually unlimited local…

THE FIRST THING TO CATCH MY GAZE on the PC74 from Horizon Power Catamarans was the high freeboard forward. It sloped aft, gently, via an unbroken sheer line that was curved like a wave. It was the kind of styling that I’m used to seeing on monohull power yachts, not on twin-hull designs. ¶ As it turns out, my response was exactly what Stuart Hegerstrom had hoped to achieve. As founder and director of The Powercat Company, a Horizon Power Catamarans distributor, he had long believed that catamaran builders needed to design their yachts to more stylish standards. ¶ “The boats were very boxy,” he says, based on his years of experience with cats in the charter market. He and his partner, Richard Ford, asked Horizon to produce models that…

Huckins yacht launched the first Atlantic 44 in 1997. To date, 15 hulls have been delivered, with some models set up as flybridge boats and others as express cruisers. A new 44 will cost about $1.4 million and take 10 months to build. Notable features: The 44 has Huckins’ Quadraconic planing hull form. The builder reports a constant running angle of 3.5 degrees sans trim tabs. Top speed is 30 knots, and power options include a variety of twin diesels up to 370 hp. Belowdecks: Accommodations plans include one or two staterooms. Availability: At press time, two Huckins Atlantic 44s were on the market: a 2001 express cruiser version for $225,000 and a 2009 flybridge model for $495,000. FROM THE ARCHIVES “Freedom’s hull and superstructure were built one-off over a…